The two men broke into a laugh, one that flew up into the night sky. Next to him, his waifish looking wife, a woman with sleek blonde hair and a darker complexion, smiled at Lonnie.
“Thank you for keeping us all safe, Officer Steele,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
Lonnie smiled and tipped his hat.
A hand snaked its way around his arm, gripping him tightly. He turned his head to see the flame-haired Miss Sylvia at his side, her lips bright red and pouty. “Well, good evening, Officer Steele,” she cooed. “If I’d have known you’d be along tonight, I would have made a bit more of an effort.”
“You look lovely, ma’am,” Lonnie replied. “No effort needed.”
She laughed wildly and squeezed at his arm. “Oh, you’re much too kind to me, Officer Steele.”
“Please,” he said. “Call me Lonnie.”
“Don’t hog the poor boy,” Sheriff Hawker said, shooing Miss Sylvia away. She didn’t look impressed at all with that, huffing away to go and stand with her friends once again. “You want to be careful of that one Lon, she’s a maneater.”
“Really?”
“Through and through,” he said. “When she’s done with you, she’ll unhinge her jaw and swallow you whole. I’ve seen it happen. It ain’t pretty.” Tommy clapped him on the back with a laugh. “Come on, Lon, I got a few more people to introduce you to.”
They walked over to another group of people standing close to where the food was being served. Lonnie could feel eyes on him the entire time. The women were waving, batting their lashes, a few of them walking up to him, introducing themselves, brushing his arm and then moving on. They just seemed to want an excuse to touch him. It was like they’d never seen a man before.
Sheriff Hawker continued to introduce Lonnie to people, letting them know that if they have a problem at all, then Lonnie was their man while the sheriff was incapacitated. He met a few more people that worked with Francis at the general store, people who worked at the tavern, some who had ranches a little way outside of town. He met so many people he could only remember half of their names, but he was polite and offered them a handshake or a hat tip, and they all seemed pretty content with that.
A band started playing over by the saloon, people quickly moving to the town square to start dancing with one another. Sheriff Hawker’s face lit up and Lonnie wondered if he was about to go and join everybody else but he stopped himself.
“Are you alright?” Lonnie asked.
He shrugged. “I can’t dance like this, Lonnie,” he said. “Look at me, I can barely walk, if I try and dance, I’ll put myself out of action for a week, and then you’ll be all alone in that office.” He sighed. “I’m just going to have a sit down. But by all means, you go and enjoy yourself. I can’t imagine there is a single woman in town who would turn you down.”
Lonnie laughed. But he wasn’t looking for just any girl to dance with. He started to look out for Evelyn again, looking over the heads of the people in the crowds to see if he could spot her anywhere.
Then he saw her.
She sat off to one side, just outside the hardware store. She’d come along for the evening’s festivities, but she was certainly not participating.
I guess I’ll just have to change that, he thought.
“Why, Lonnie Steele, where are you going in such a hurry?” Miss Sylvia had taken hold of his arm and was attempting to drag him toward where everybody else was dancing. “I think you owe me a dance, don’t you think?”
“I don’t think so Sylvia,” Lonnie said with a smile and a tip of his hat. “I’ll save one for you later though, alright?”
He released himself from her grip, not giving her a chance to get another word in, before he bolted over to where Evelyn was sitting. She saw him coming and immediately averted her gaze. But that wasn’t about to put him off.
“Good evening, Miss Pierce,” he said, offering her his best smile. She looked wonderful in the light of the campfire, the orange glow bouncing off her cheeks, the warmth of it reflecting in her eyes like fire. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“I’m having a ball,” she said, looking past him to the people dancing. “Shouldn’t you be over there?”
“Only if you’re coming with me,” Lonnie said quickly.
She scoffed at him. “I don’t think so,” she said.
“Come on, Miss Pierce, please?” he said. “You’re over here looking like somebody’s just slapped you in the face. You could do with a good time, couldn’t you?”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “I don’t know what you think you know about me, Mr. Steele, but believe me when I say that you don’t even know the half of it.” She stood up, brushing off her dress.
“Don’t leave.”
“Don’t try and stop me.”
“Please, Miss Pierce,” Lonnie said, standing in her way. “Give a man a chance. It might be fun.”
“I have more important things to attend to,” she said haughtily, pushing her way past him and walking away. He watched her go, disappearing past the dancers, past the townsfolk and off into the night. He wanted to go after her, to find out what it was that was bothering her so much, but he couldn’t see that going down too well. And he was sure that Sheriff Hawker wouldn’t be too pleased if he saw him vanishing from the party before it really had a chance to get going.
What on earth does a guy have to do to get a smile off Evelyn Pierce? he thought to himself. No matter how hard he tried, no matter what he did, all he was met with was rebuttals.
“What are you looking so glum for?” Miss Sylvia had appeared at Lonnie’s side again. “You shouldn’t be looking so sad at a party, Officer Steele.”
“Yeah,” another girl appeared at Sylvia’s side. A girl with dark skin, bright green eyes, and full lips that looked glossy in the firelight. “Why don’t you tell us about it, Officer?” she giggled. Lonnie did not.
“Tell me what you know about Evelyn Pierce,” he said.
“Evelyn Pierce?!” Sylvia squawked. “What do you want to hear about Evelyn Pierce for? You’ve not heard enough gossip? You’ve not heard enough about her tragic little life from the rest of the town?”
“That’s the problem,” Lonnie said. “I barely know a thing about her. All I really know is that I don’t think she cares for me all that much.”
“Well she probably still has eyes for Willard, you know, isn’t that right, Jean?” Sylvia said.
The dark-skinned girl nodded obediently. “Yeah, those two go way back, they were engaged to be married, did everything together. I mean, they drove the entire town insane, so right now it’s good riddance, but I can only imagine it won’t be long before all that starts up again. He’s probably just waiting for it all to die down.”
“Hanging out in some cave out in the mountains or hiding out in a stable on somebody’s ranch, just waiting for the right moment to come back and snatch her away again,” Miss Sylvia sighed. “She’s not worth your trouble Lonnie, not when there are so many tastier fish in the sea.”
“Did she steal with Willard? Were they bandits together?”
“Everybody was scared of ‘em,'' Jean cried. “Everybody except the sheriff, of course. It all could have been so much worse for everybody if he hadn’t stepped in and done something. Who knows where we would all be without him?”
“I just feel sorry for her poor father,” Sylvia said.
“What about her father?”
“Well, imagine your daughter going off with someone like Willard Lane?” Sylvia’s face twisted to one of disgust. “It’s enough to drive anybody mad, but it really did a number on her dear old dad.”
“What happened?”
“He’s totally lost it,” Jean said. “He can’t remember a thing; he hardly remembers who she is most of the time!”
“Thank God,” Sylvia said.
“That’s what I think!” Jean said. “To have shamed him like that by going off with a bandit
like Willard Lane, and then all the things they did together, the fear they struck into the people of Kecheetah, it’s a blessing for her that he doesn’t remember her, because it’s enough to break a man’s heart, I would say.”
“And I would agree,” Sylvia said. “Now, enough about her. Talking about that sad, awful woman is bringing me down. How about that dance you owe me, Lonnie?”
“Maybe another time,” Lonnie said, walking past her and over toward the Kecheetah Tavern. He didn’t want to be near either of them right now. What an awful way to speak about somebody. For some reason, it affronted him all the worse that it was about Evelyn. He didn’t want to believe it, not for a single second, that she could be like that. And if Sylvia and Jean were talking about her in that way, spreading their poison around, who knew what everybody else was saying?
It must be horrible to walk around knowing that everybody is talking about you like that, he thought. And he imagined that Sylvia and Jean weren’t the kind of people to hold their tongues even when Evelyn was around. She was probably getting grief from them every time she left the house.
He couldn’t believe it. She was a little spiky, sure, and she had been cold to him, but they didn’t really know each other. If the only guy she had ever been with was Willard Lane, then no wonder she was a little bit wary around another man. He had to know her. It struck him in that moment that no matter what it took, no matter how hard he had to work for it, he wanted to get to know Evelyn Pierce.
He was about to leave when Albert placed a hand on his arm. “You okay there, sonny?” he asked. “You look like you could use a drink.”
Lonnie shook his head. “Not right now, Albert, but thank you. I just seem to have a lot on my mind all of a sudden, and I don’t know how to deal with it.”
Albert took a deep breath. “I couldn’t help but notice who you were talking to just now,” he said.
“Sylvia and Jean?” Lonnie said. “I know, they’re not the nicest of girls, they were just–”
“No, not those two,” Albert said with a laugh. “I mean Evelyn Pierce. Do you know her?”
“Not at the moment,” Lonnie said, already sensing where this conversation was going. “Why?”
“It’s none of my business, and you are well within your rights to tell me where I can stick my nose, Officer, you know that,” he started. “But I just don’t want you to get steered wrong when you’ve only been here for five minutes.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean with that Evelyn Pierce,” he said. “She’s… I don’t want to speak ill of her, not really, it’s not gentlemanly to do so, but you don’t want to get caught up in all of that.”
“All of what, Albert, what are you saying?”
“She’s a devil woman!” Albert whispered. “She does nothing but lead men to their demise, you mark my words here, boy. She did it to Willard Lane, she did it to her father and, if you ain’t careful, she’ll do it to you too. Now, you’re a wonderful guy, Lonnie, and I wouldn’t want you getting hurt, so I’m just warning you while there’s still time for you to nip it in the bud, before she really gets her claws into you.”
Lonnie took a deep breath. “Thank you for the advice, Albert,” he said. “I appreciate you looking out for me.”
But he couldn’t get her out of his head. No matter who he danced with, no matter who he talked to, she would either come up in conversation or he’d drift off and end up thinking about her. Albert may have been trying to get in there before it was too late, but maybe it too late was already.
Lonnie desperately wanted to get to know Evelyn, the real Evelyn, not the demonised version everybody in town was talking about. And he would do anything to make that happen.
Chapter 6
The following morning, Evelyn walked through town at her usual pace, ignoring the people talking around her, the looks, the stares, just wanting to get to the hardware store and get on with her day.
She wondered what it would be like to move away from this place, to move away from the prying, judgmental eyes and start afresh somewhere new.
It would be blissful, she thought. She couldn’t hide a smile from her face as she thought about actually having relationships with the people of her imaginary new town. She would be able to go to the general store and talk to the cashier and the other patrons, she would be able to go to the local tavern and have a drink. She would have friends. She would have a future that wasn’t overshadowed by her past.
Now you’re just being silly, she thought, scolding herself.
She knew deep in her heart, that it just couldn’t possibly happen. The only place Evelyn had ever known was Kecheetah, and to try and move away from here while her father wasn’t well was unthinkable.
Maybe she should just settle down and really try to find a man, if she could manage to find somebody to love her in this town. A lot of the women in Kecheetah led a much simpler life than hers. They cooked and cleaned for their husbands, they looked after their children and their houses, while Evelyn worked her fingers to the bone and went back to look after a father who didn’t even recognise her.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to think bad things about her father, it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t ask for this.
She caught sight of a man walking with his wife, her big pregnant belly protruding in front of her. She watched him long enough to see his eyes wander from his wife to Evelyn. He stared at her hungrily, so she fixed him with a disgusted glare.
There will be no men, she thought. Men are… not worth the trouble. All I want is a little bit of peace in my life.
She looked at the building, the boarded-up windows making the whole place look a little sadder, a little more dilapidated. She hated that it had come to this, that her father’s pride and joy was falling apart.
She shook the thought from her head. She didn’t have time to be sad about it. She needed to get on and work, she needed to…
She stopped a little way from the front deck. Leaning against the door in a much more prominent position than it had been the day before, was another red rose.
What is that Willard doing? she thought to herself. Is he determined to drag my name through the mud until I’m run right out of this town?
She marched up to it and picked it up by the stem, ignoring the pricks in her fingers as the thorns dug in. She was ready to throw it to the ground and stamp it to mulch, when she caught sight of young Rose Evans standing a little way away from her. Evelyn took a breath and calmed herself down. Rose seemed to be the last person in all of town who didn’t think she was some kind of devil woman, the last one that seemed to want to talk to her. She didn’t want to scare her away.
“Hello there, Rose,” Evelyn said as sweetly as she could. “Beautiful mornin’ ain’t it? Sun in the sky, birds twittering, just lovely.”
“I know who it was,” Rose said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. That little angelic face had a look of mischief in it, and it intrigued Evelyn. She moved a little closer.
“You do?” Evelyn said. “You talkin’ about this?” Evelyn said, pointing at the rose.
Rose nodded.
“Who?”
Rose shook her head.
“Rose, you gotta tell me,” Evelyn said. If it was Willard she needed to know. She needed to know so that she could tell Rose that she didn’t want it, that she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. She was determined to be a free woman. “Please?”
“I’ll tell you, but you need to come and eat dinner with us one of these evenings,” she said.
Evelyn wasn’t so sure about that. She was friendly with Rose, of course, but she was the mayor’s daughter, after all. That would mean she’d be having dinner with the mayor and the first lady of Kecheetah, and that just felt like a little too much. They’d respected her father, been pleased with what he’d done for the town over the years, but she couldn’t imagine they were so keen on her.
“Rose, I—”
“If you don’t want to
know, that’s fine by me.” Rose turned around and started to walk away. Evelyn hurried after her.
“Go on,” Evelyn said.
“Say you’ll come,” Rose insisted. “Say it!”
“Okay, fine, I’ll come for dinner, who is it?”
Rose grinned, clearly enjoying being able to play Evelyn like this. “It’s that young ranger. The new one.”
Rose practically skipped away, leaving Evelyn standing near the town square, a rose clutched in her hand, her thoughts rushing at a million miles a minute.
The Path To Tame a Wild Heart: A Historical Western Romance Novel Page 4